Counterweight for door structures



' Feb. 27; 1951 J. SYLVAN COUNTERWEIGHT FOR 000R STRUCTURES Filed Dec. 17, 1945 Patented Feb. 27, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OF-FICE GOUNTE-RWEIGHT FORDOORESTRUCTUR'ES J oseph Sylvan, Berkley, Mic h. I Application December 17, was, serislnoxseasss This invention relates to improvements in doors.

.-An object is to provide improved door supporting and operating mechanism particularly designed for a door of the type which is pivoted supporting and operating mechanism of the counterweighttype which is inexpensive, which is of simple and of rugged construction and which is readily operable to assist in moving the door from a closed to an open position.

A further object is to provide a door construction of the character described which includes, in combination with the counterweight mechanism, novel manually operable locking means adapted to be employed to releasably lock the door operating mechanism to maintain the door in the open position. Specifically, the locking means functions to engage the door operating mechanism to retain the door in the elevated position to which it has been moved by the opening of the door.

More specifically, the door is supported between a pair of upright jamb members upon a shaft which extends along the top of the door and is journaled at opposite ends upon the jamb members to permit the bottom of the door to be swung outwardly from the jamb members. The top of the door is provided with a lever part projecting beyond the shaft and a counterweight is suspended over the outer end of said lever and supported for guided travel vertically of the door jamb. This counterweight is coupled with the lever by linkage pivoted at one end to the lever and pivoted at the opposite end to the counterweight. Locking means is pivotally supported to swing to a, position to releasably retain the door in its elevated position when the door is open.

Other objects, advantages and meritorious features of this invention will more fully appear from the following description, appended claim and accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through a door structure embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a perspective of the connection between the door and the counterweight.

1 Claim. (01.- 16) Figure Bis a 's'ectiontaken on the line 33 of Figure 2.

bers are disposed in horizontal spaced apart position and connected at the top by a header member [2 and connected at the bottom by a sill member M. A door structure 16 is supported upon a shaft {8 which shaft extends along the top of the door.

This shaft has end portions which project beyond theidoor and are iournaled for rotation upon brackets 2'0. Such a bracket is shown in Figures land 2 as secured to the upper end of the angular jamb plate 22 which plate is secured to the upright -jamb'm'e'mber by screws or the *like 23.

The door itself is here shown as formed of sheet metal panel sections or the like which are so shaped as to increase the strength of the door while insuring light weight. The upright edges of the door are bound within a frame piece 24 and the door is provided at the bottom with a weather strip 26.

The door has a lever portion 28 which projects above its pivotal support and supports a counterweight. This lever 28 is here shown as consisting of a pair of angle iron sections welded or otherwise secured to the shaft l8 and projecting outwardly therefrom substantially in line with the plane of the door.

Counterweight mechanism is suspended from the upper end of this lever portion 28 and is supported for guided travel vertically of the door jamb to assist in swinging the bottom of the door outwardly from the jamb about the pivotal support of the door upon the shaft I8.

A framework or guideway in the form of a sheet metal box 30 is secured to a jamb member l0 and serves as a guideway for the counterweight. This guideway is substantially rectangular in cross section and has vertical flange portions 3| shown in Figure 4 which are secured to the jamb ID by screws 33 or the like. This guide way is also provided with resilient inturned flanges 32 which bear against the counterweight during its vertical travel.

The counterweight may be formed of a rectangular metal shell 34 filled with cement, gravel or any other suitable weight producing material 35 as desired. This shell may be formed as i1- lustrated in Figure 4 with one upright face recessed lengthwise providing a pair of vertical flanges 36 wherein a pivot pin 38 is mounted.

A pair of links 40 are shown as pivoted at their lower ends upon the pin 38 and at their upper ends upon a pin 29 which extends between the angular lever sections 28 as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

It is apparent that the counterweight shell may travel vertically through the housing or guideway 30 parallel to the door jamb and by virtue of its connection with the door through the linkage 40 and lever portions 28 above described it will assist in swinging the bottom of the door outwardly away from the jamb members and from the dotted line position shown in Figure 1 to the full line position shown therein.

A locking lever 42 is pivoted at 44 at its lower end. to the guide way or housing 30. This lever is provided with a, notch 46 which is adapted, when the counterweight is lowered to the position at which the door is open, to seat over the end of the pivot pin 38 as shown in Figure 2. When this locking lever engages the pin 38 as described it will releasably retain the door at the elevated position. A jacket or housing 48 is secured to the guideway 30 as shown in Figure 4 and encloses this locking lever. In addition to the pin 44 upon which the locking lever itself is pivoted there is a stop pin 50 shown in Figure l which will prevent the locking lever swinging to dead center or beyond so that the locking lever will always be in a position to fall naturally by gravity to engage the lever notch 46 with the pivot pin 38 of the links 40. To release the lever there is a pull cord 52, shown in Figures 1 and 2 as connected at one end with the upper end of the lever 42, which pull cord is provided at its outer end with a handle portion 54.

What I claim is:

counterweight mechanism for a door pivotally supported at the top between a pair of jamb members for swingable movement about a horizontal axis from a closed vertical position between said jamb members to an open position projecting outwardly horizontally therefrom comprising, in combination, a trackway housing channel-shaped in cross-section positioned upright alongside of one of the jamb members, the opposite side walls of said channel-shaped housing being bent inwardly of the channel and toward each other forming slides for a counterweight disposed within the channel, a counterweight disposed within the channel for guided vertical travel having a pair of flanges slidably engaging the bottom of the channel-shaped housing, a linkage pivotally connecting the top of the door above its pivotal support with said counterweight to assist in swinging the bottom of the door outwardly from said jam members.

JOSEPH SYLVAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,312,665 Almquist Aug. 12, 1919 1,524,956 Strauss Feb. 3, 1925 2,067,623 Smith Jan. 12, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 152,801 Switzerland of 1932 524,370 Great Britain Aug. 5, 1940 746,119 France of 1933 

